


point sinister

by misura



Category: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Genre: M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 15:57:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21018410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Bedivere confronts Goosefat after the failed assassination attempt.





	point sinister

Bedivere looked up, and it was all there on his face: disappointment, anger and a sense of betrayal that really stung, even if Bill had been expecting it.

He'd stood there in that crowded room, knowing, _accepting_ that it wasn't going to be this easy, that they weren't going to get Vortigern like this. He'd have liked to spare a thought for Maggie, to worry about what had happened to her, but the truth was, he had never been a particularly good man.

He'd been a man with a bow, and he'd taken the shot.

First Mercia, then Clarendon, then some others. _They had it coming. All of them._

"Bill," Bedivere said.

_And I guess I've got this coming, too._ "Boss," he said. There had never been any doubt, any uncertainty about who of them would lead the Resistance.

With Bedivere dead, Bill supposed he might have stepped up. He'd have made Vortigern pay, at least.

He couldn't really picture leading them to actual victory, though. That wasn't the sort of man he was, the kind who built things, who thought of strategy and tactics. Big picture stuff. Who inspired and motivated people by something other than by saying, _How would you like to get to live?_

(Bill had cut the man's throat anyway, because you couldn't trust Blacklegs, but even as he'd done it, he'd known that Bedivere would have made a different choice.)

Bedivere sighed. "Your recklessness put all of us in danger. You know that. You knew that when you shot Mercia." He did not say, _I told you it was a trap._

"It was worth it," Bill said.

Bedivere got up. "We lost people! Good people!" Bill wondered if Bedivere was going to hit him.

Bill would let him, of course. They'd both feel better, after, and the dead would still be dead.

"We were always going to lose people," he said. "We knew that from the beginning."

Bedivere glared at him. "That is different! I gave you an order. I told you - "

"So hit me. Punish me." Bill shrugged. "Whatever you want. I don't care. It'll still have been worth it."

"I'm not going to hit you," Bedivere said, breathing out slowly.

_Then, would you like to fuck me?_ Bill shook his head. "I'm sorry," he offered. He wasn't, and they both knew it, but Bedivere valued manners, and it cost Bill nothing to say the words.

"No, you're not," Bedivere said. "That's the problem. You're never sorry."

"I'm sorry we didn't get Vortigern," Bill said. "That's true enough. I'm sorry you feel the need to yell at me. That's not a lie either."

"I'm sorry for thinking I could trust you," Bedivere said.

Bill winced. "Boss."

"And I'm angry. I don't like being angry with people whom I thought I could trust," Bedivere said. "I'd much rather be angry with our enemies. Is any of this getting through to you, Bill? Or am I just wasting my breath here?"

Bill bit back a flippant reply. _It _was_ worth it, damn it. Taking out Mercia - _ "What do you want from me? A promise not to do it again? I won't. I promise."

"You won't do it again because Mercia is dead and you can only shoot a man to death once."

"Then we don't have a problem, do we?" Bill said. Bedivere scowled at him. Bill shrugged. "I'm just saying - if you're worried about a repeat performance, don't be."

"I worry about a lot of things," Bedivere said.

"Why don't you let me take your mind off of all those things for a while?"

Bedivere's scowl deepened. "Because I have no intention of rewarding your bad behavior in any way."

"Then don't think of it as a reward," Bill said. "Think of it as a reminder of everything I have to lose if we fail."

"You mean everything you put at risk by behaving the way you did."

"Let's not quibble over definitions." Bill smiled. "Come now. I apologized, I groveled, and we've already established that I'm not going to do it again. What's there left to talk about?"

Bedivere shook his head. "One of these days, you're going to push it too far."

"Well. One of these days I might get dead," Bill said, not bothering not to sound relieved. "I'll deal with it when it happens."

"Not when you're dead, you won't," Bedivere said, but he was quick enough to kiss Bill back when Bill reached for him, even if his body still felt tense and stiff with anger. "You get yourself killed, that's when you'll really see me get angry."

_Not when I'm dead, I won't,_ Bill thought, only it seemed a pity to stop kissing Bedivere just so he could get the last word in, so he kept it to himself.


End file.
